War on Want patron Omar Barghouti enters fourth day of interrogation by Israeli authorities

22 March 2017 - 5:30pm

Press release

Palestinian human rights defender and War on Want patron Omar Barghouti is currently enduring a fourth day of interrogation by the Israeli authorities. He was detained on Sunday 19 March, alongside his wife Safa.

Responding to the news, Ryvka Barnard, Senior Militarism and Security Campaigner at War on Want, said:

"This repressive treatment of Omar Barghouti and other Palestinian human rights defenders shows that Israel is cementing its system of violence and discrimination towards Palestinians.

"So long as the UK government maintains its diplomatic and military support for Israeli policies of aggression and occupation, it will be complicit in this violence against Palestinians."

Omar is a co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for the freedom, justice and equality of the Palestinian people.

For decades Omar has been subjected to intense threats, intimidation and repression by the Israeli government, particularly after it labelled the BDS movement a “strategic threat” to its entire system of injustice against Palestinians.

Barnard added: "Israel’s oppression of Palestinians is systematic: it takes the form of lethal force used in the context of military occupation, preventing Palestinian freedom of movement, arbitrary arrest and detention without trial, and targeted harassment and attacks on those who dare to speak out against this oppression.

"It’s time for the UK to live up to its obligations under international law; stop supporting Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights, and act now to protect the rights of Omar Barghouti and all other Palestinian human rights defenders."

"The repression of BDS activists only proves why it is so necessary in the first place, and will only make the movement grow more."

This latest attack on human rights defenders comes weeks before Omar Barghouti is scheduled to travel to the US to receive the Gandhi Peace Award.

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